Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/278

248 elements of the words yatí', good, and of ĭnzóni, nĭzóni, and hozóni, which signify beautiful.

226. According to the Navaho myths and songs, the corn and other products in the gardens of the yéi or divine ones grow and mature in a very short time. The rapid growth of the crops in Nati'nĕsthani's farm is supposed to result from the divine origin of the seed.

227. The order in which Nati'nĕsthani lays down the ears of corn is the order in which sacrificial cigarettes, kethawns, and other sacred objects, when colored, are laid down in a straight row. The white, being the color of the east, has precedence of all and is laid down first. The blue, the color of the south, comes next, for when we move sunwise (the sacred ceremonial circuit of the Navahoes) south follows immediately after east. Yellow, the color of the west, on the same principle, comes third; and black (in this case mixed) comes fourth. Mixed is properly the coloring of the upper region, and usually follows after black; but it sometimes takes the place of black. These apparently superfluous particulars of laying down the corn have a ceremonial or religious significance. In placing sacred objects ceremonially in a straight row, the operator proceeds southward from his starting-point, for this approximates the sunwise circuit, and he makes the tip ends point east.

228. Pín-i-az bĭ-tsó (fawn-his-cheese), or fawn-cheese, is a substance found in the abdomen of the fawn. A similar substance is found in other young mammals. They say it looks like curds, or cottage cheese, and that it is pleasant to the taste. They eat it raw. The author has not determined by observation what this substance is. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the Department of Agriculture, suggests that it is the partly digested milk in the stomach of the fawn, and this is probably the case.

229. The dish offered to Nati'něsthani is called by the Navahoes atsón, which is here translated "pemmican." It consists of dried vension pounded on a stone and fried in grease.

230. To make dĭ-tló-gi kle-sán, cut the grain off the ear, grind it to a pulp on a metate, spread out the embers, lay a number of green corn leaves on them, place the pulp on the leaves, put other leaves on top of the pulp, rake hot embers over all, and leave it to bake.

231. Dĭ-tló-gin tsĭ-dĭ-kó-i is made of a pulp of green corn ground on a metate, like dĭtlógi klesán. The pulp is encased in husks, which are folded at the ends, and is then placed between leaves and hot coals to bake.

232. Thá-bĭ-tsa (three-ears) is made also of pulp of green corn. This is placed in folded cones made of husks; three cones being made of one complete husk, whose leaves are not removed from their stem. It looks like three ears fastened, together, whence the name. It is boiled in water.

233. The story-teller said: "about as far as from here to Jake's house,"—a distance which the writer estimated at 300 yards.

234. Over the east door, one cigarette, that for the male, was made of mountain mahogany (tsé' estagi, Cercocarpus parvifolius), perforated, painted blue, and marked with four symbols of deer-tracks in yellow; the other cigarette, that for the female, was made of cliff rose (awétsal, Cowania mexicana), painted yellow and marked with four symbols of deer-tracks in blue. Over the south door the cigarette for the male was made of sunflower (ĭndĭgíli), painted yellow and dotted with four symbols of antelope-tracks in blue; the cigarette for the female was made of "strong-smelling sunflower" (ĭndĭgíli niltsóni, Verbesina enceloides), painted white and dotted with four symbols of antelope-tracks in black. Over the west door, the cigarettes were of the same material as those in the east; but one was painted black with symbols of deer-tracks in blue, and the other was